Kate Austen

Abandoned by her husband who is traveling in Europe to "find himself," Kate Austen is left to make a life for herself and her five-year-old daughter. She is something of a misfit in her well to-do neighborhood, but when her socialite neighbor, Pepper Livingston, is murdered, and the handsome detective Michael Stone turns to Kate for information about the victim, Kate's life takes an unexpected turn.

Suspense simmers in the suburb of Walnut Hills as Kate tries to figure out who killed her recently divorced friend Mona Sterling. A bottle of expensive scotch and an empty vial of sleeping pills convince the police that her death is a suicide. But Kate has her doubts. With the help of mutual friend Sharon Covington, Kate contends with Mona's troubled teenage daughter and her surly boyfriend, Mona's ex-husband and his suspicious wife, and a mysterious stranger plying kids with candy on the school grounds — all while trying to ferret out the killer and decide what to do about the handsome detective Michael Stone.

The overlapping threads of two murders lead Kate from Cybersex to love sonnets, from a clandestine research project to the deepest of family secrets, and ultimately threaten Kate and those she loves.

Kate Austen has always had a soft spot for people in trouble, but stopping to help stranded motorist Sheryl Ann Martin is a terrible mistake. With her dead husband in the trunk and her killer boyfriend at her side, Sheryl Ann is in trouble. And so is Kate — held hostage in a remote cabin by a couple who can't afford to let her live. Kate's only hope is a desperate run for freedom, but when she is rescued, her nightmare is just beginning.